News

"Eric Corne is a very busy man. Besides being an award winning engineer, producer, and songwriter, he’s also a talented artist. Corne’s latest release, Happy Songs For The Apocalypse, has a street date of April 20th, via his own Forty Below Records label....Shades of John Lennon, Tom Waits, Robbie Robertson, Tom Petty and others appear, all in the most remarkable ways." - American Blues Scene

Happy Songs for the Apocalypse by Eric Corne is now available for pre-order.

Three for the Road, the new album from iconic musician and Blues Hall of Fame member John Mayall, features cuts drawn from two exuberant concerts recorded live in Germany in 2017. The title is a nod to the trio format featured on Mayall’s 2017 world tour, which includes long time bassist Greg Rzab and drummer Jay Davenport. The new record, produced by Eric Corne and John Mayall and mixed by Corne will be released on February 23rd.

Sounds like: California classic rock like Little Feat mixed with Texas honkytonk for a new breed of SoCal melting pot country

For fans of: Margo Price, Sturgill Simpson's "Brace For Impact," Band of Heathens

Why You Should Pay Attention: Though LA's country scene isn’t packed to the gills, it does boast a small but talented group of new artists making good on the state's Bakersfield history. Alongside Sam Outlaw, Jade Jackson and Jaime Wyatt, Houston-born Sam Morrow started putting out bluesy, boot-stompingly traditional records a few years back.

"Songs about doing time are nothing new in country music, but Jaime Wyatt is one of the few who's sung about it from experience. Now the song "Wasco" from her debut LP Felony Blues brings to life a prison romance with a freewheeling new music video.." -

For his tenth release, renowned songwriter Bill Carter performs his best known songs, as done by Stevie Ray Vaughan, Waylon Jennings, Robert Palmer and more. “I love to get in the studio and record and arrange music with great players,” Carter says. “But I also firmly believe that a song should stand on its own merits, stripped down and performed with only the tools used to create it in the first place.”

Rolling Stone Country Artist You Need to Know sings in front of a monument of defiance in "Giving Back the Best of Me".

Up-and-comer Jaime Wyatt has gotten a lot of attention for both her music –a seamless blend of early California country and modern outlaw sensibilities – and for her unusual origin story: Her new album Felony Blues got its title from an actual stint in prison.

Check out The Bluegrass Situations's Class of 2017 for an excellent preview of the most anticipated roots records dropping this year from everyone from Bruce Springsteen, to Ryan Adams, to our ownJaime Wyatt.Jaime also gives a rundown of her favorite touring essentials which you can read about HERE via The Bluegrass Situation.

Saving Country Musichas named Jaime Wyatt'sFelony Blues one of the most anticipated albums of 2017, alongside releases from Nikki Lane, Son Volt, and Rhiannon Giddens. Felony Blues will be available Feb 24!

A striking figure with an old soul, and a voice like a force of nature, its Wyatt’s “Punk Rock Attitude” that sets her apart. Regardless of genre, Wyatt is a dynamic performer, who sails naturally between vintage 60s and 70s country/rock ’n’ soul anthems and heartfelt country ballads of love and corruption. Country radio station 95.3 The Bear recently named her alongside Sturgill Simpson and Margo Price as “one of the country artists you may not have heard of, but need to hear.”

Felony Blues will be released on CD and digitally on February 24, 2017. Pre-order the album on iTunes and receive an instant download of the song "Wishing Well" here.

A British blues pioneer John Mayall has worked with many well-known guitarists during his long career, and you can add one more name to that list -- Joe Walsh. The longtime Eagles member makes a guest appearance on Mayall's upcoming studio album, Talk About That, which he plans to release early next year.

In July 1967, the young British blues guitarist Peter Green left a good job and rising profile as Eric Clapton's replacement in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers to start his own band. Fleetwood Mac. Mayall responded as he did after Clapton split to start Cream, hiring British guitar's Next Big Thing, teenager and future Rolling Stone Mick Taylor." David Fricke

Congrats to our good friend Walter Trout, the band and producer, Forty Below's own Eric Corne, for winning 2016 Blues Music Awards in two categories: Rock blues album and best song of the year. Walter was on the road, and his wife and manager Marie, Eric Corne, and son, Dylan picked up the award at the Blues Music Awards in Memphis, TN.

For a limited time, we're giving away 2 songs from Live in 1967, the never-before-heard live recordings of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, featuring Peter Green, Mick Fleetwood, and John McVie just before the formation of Fleetwood Mac.

Last year's release of Live In 1967 generated an overwhelmingly positive response and now, as promised, we are issuing a second volume of never before heard live recordings from 1967, featuring the historic lineup of John Mayall, Peter Green, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie.

Volume II is due out May 6, but you can pre-order it now on Amazon to add it to your CD, mp3, or vinyl collection as soon as it's available!

After a pair of sold out shows in New York supporting Michael Kiwanuka and a sold out slot for Communion's Residency at Rockwood Music Hall, KaiL came back to LA Monday night to open for KT Tunstall at the city's venerated School Night, hosted by KCRW's Chris Douridas.

It is with great pride that we announce John Mayall's induction into the Blues Hall of Fame! For over 50 years, John Mayall has served as a pioneer of blues music, rightly earning him the title, “The Godfather of British Blues.” The induction ceremony will be held Wednesday, May 4, at the Sheraton Memphis Downtown in Memphis, Tennessee.

"Austin-based singer-songwriter Bill Carter has a long history as a composer in the music industry, having penned popular songs by the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble, John Mayall, and Robert Palmer. And it just so happens you can hear the new track “Recipe For Disaster” below, which with its Warren Zevon-style narrative and wit, is an acerbic powerhouse." - Pop Matters

Don't miss your chance to purchase the limited edition vinyl + download of KaiL Baxley's new album ‪‎A Light That Never Dies‬! "11 riveting songs that herald Baxley as a major talent. Most of this is like nothing we've heard before." - American Songwriter

"Without doubt, Morrow’s freewheeling, experimental attitude, his self-assuredness mixed with self-awareness and his ability to bring people together in a creative environment makes him one of the exciting new fixtures in modern Americana." -Elmore Magazine

“[Morrow] offers ready comparisons to the inspiring melancholia of Springsteen’s Nebraska, Steve Earle’s Train a Coming and Jason Isbell's more recent Southeastern…a singular presence, an artist who can turn a slow moan into a song that’s truly compelling…clearly positioned to make a lingering impression – NO DEPRESSION

Featuring the original members of Fleetwood Mac, months before forming..."Live In 1967 could not be more like buried treasure if had it been found in an old wooden sea =chest beneath the floor of The Marquee Club" - The Blues Magazine

See the print edition of the Blues Magazine for the 6 page feature interview with John Mayall, Eric Corne, Tom Huissen, Mick Fleetwood and more!

Morrow has been spending time in the studio working on a new album which will be released later this year. He paused long enough to share this special live performance of “14,” a track from last year’s Ephemeral.

about.com has selected John Mayall'sA Special Life as one of the Top 10 Blues Rock Albums of the Year for 2014. Also nominated was Walter Trout's, The Blues Came Callin'. Both albums were co-produced and engineered by Forty Below Record's Eric Corne.

At 81 years old, the British bluesman plays with a fire and enthusiasm that musicians half his age only wish they could muster. His live performances are legendary. On a warm Friday evening in mid-September in the tiny Long Island town of Bay Shore, Mayall's performance was exactly as billed: intense, dynamic and flawless. In short, legendary.

"On A Special Life (Forty Below Records) John Mayall proves that he is still a vital musical force...“Just A Memory” is a slow and smoky piano blues that might be one of the best blues songs written by anybody in recent years."

Mayall is at the top of his game here, and the band comes together nicely, serving up some of the finest fare we’ve heard in a while. This music draws listeners in, and engages them on so many levels! The more we listened to A Special Life, the more we wanted to hear it. Superbly crafted and performed, it is at once earthy, elegant, and soul stirring. Listeners will wear this album out. - American Blues Scene

"The true troubadour musicians seem to be a gradually dying breed these days. If you look hard enough, you can find some truly exceptional ones, though, and one of those would have to be Sam Morrow.

The 23-year-old singer/songwriters' debut album, “Ephemeral”, was recently released on Forty Below Records, and moments into starting the listening experience you find it hard to believe Morrow isn’t two or three times his age, due to the depth and honesty that’s conveyed in his songs." - The Music Enthusisast

Blues legend, John Mayall's new album, A Special Life is out today in North America and May 19th in The UK/Europe on Forty Below Records.

"I’d easily put this one among Mayall’s best efforts – and that includes Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton, A Hard Road, and Blues From Laurel Canyon – so run, don’t walk, to your record store come release day for a copy of A Special Life!" - Reverend Keith A. Gordon - about.com

Mayall recorded A Special Life, his first release for Forty Below Records, during a three-day session with his band, special guest CJ Chenier and co-producer/engineer Eric Corne during November at Entourage Studios in North Hollywood

Here is Billboard's exclusive premiere of the first single, "Why Did You Go Last Night".

LA Music Blog premiere Sam Morrow's song "14" of his debut album, Ephemeral, out April 29th in the US and June 23 in Europe.

As Sam tells LA Music Blog, "“My producer and co-writer, Eric Corne, kept challenging me to write a song that detailed my turbulent past. This ended up being that song. I wanted to offset the somewhat dark topic of the lyrics with a more upbeat, bright melody. I think that dichotomy turned out really cool.”

Blues icon, John Mayall recently completed his new album, A Special Life, engineered/co-produced by Forty Below founder Eric Corne. The album will be released on FBR on May 13th, 2014. John and his band will be touring extensively all over the world to support the release." - Nashville Music News

NPR has been a great supporter of KaiL Baxley's record, Heatstroke/The Wind and the War: Nominating it for NPR Album of the Year, featuring him on World Cafe with David Dye and All Songs Consideredwith Bob Boilen.

Bonson Berner’s electro-charged rock bridges the gap between indie-rockers like The National and another well-known band with Argentine bloodlines, Diego Garcia’s Elefant. The first single “Running Days” is as urgent as it is concise.

"One of our favorite new recent discoveries is Los Angeles based singer-songwriter KaiL Baxley. On March 19th Baxley will release Heatstroke/The Wind and The War. Baxley grew up in South Carolina where he got to know James Brown and was an amateur boxer. He got bit by the music bug when he was a senior in high school, honing his craft and recording his double EP debut. Baxley was recently chosen by World Cafe host David Dye for World Cafe: Next emerging artist series that you can listen to here. Below, download “Don’t Matter To Me.” - Bruce Warren (WXPN)

"Released today, the album Heatstroke/The Wind and the War— technically a double-EP — showcases the two sides of Baxley’s songwriting. One disc focuses on haunting folk songs, while the other is steeped in grooves and guitars, shining a light on his rowdier tendencies. “Legend of the Western Hills,” a swirling ballad filled with strings, vibrato and waltzing percussion, is one of the highlights from the folk disc."